Jason Aldean is apparently very inspirational – to the Washington Nationals baseball team! Several of the players had tickets to his concert last Saturday night, and the Nats were playing an afternoon game. Adam Laroche, first baseman for the Nationals, stole an extra base so the game could end early, saying they “had to win that game in a hurry or [they] were going to miss that concert.” They beat the Florida Marlins 7-6.

Brantley Gilbert is riding high on his new-found success in country music, and has re-released “Kick it in the Sticks” due to fan demand. That song is a pretty rockin’ song – was Brantley leaning more to his rock and roll side when it was written and recorded? According to him, “I will be completely honest with you those were not my intentions when I wrote that song or when we produced it – either one. I can honestly say that about every song on that record. I did not try to make it sound country. I did not try to make it sound rock. We just wrote songs and we played them like we heard ‘em.”

Bucky Covington’s new album, “Good Guys,” came out yesterday, and Bucky says there’s a really good reason for that: “We figured we would put the album out on September 11th and a portion of the proceeds will go to Help The Good Guys - to help firefighters all over the U.S. and Canada. We figured it’d be great – of course you can’t say September 11th and not think firefighters.” He spent yesterday in New York City, hanging with public safety officers and joining in their remembrance ceremonies.

Aaron Lewis, frontman for the rock group Staind, also released a new album yesterday. He’s proud of the work, but admits that recording it was quite an ordeal: “I recorded the record on my days off from a Staind tour. So I’d play like three Staind shows in a row, and then have a day off, and I would fly from wherever I was in the country to Nashville, record for the afternoon and fly back to wherever I had to be next. That’s how I recorded the record.”

There’s holiday music coming from Scotty McCreery, Blake Shelton and Lady Antebellum, and Dave Heywood dishes a few details about trying to get in the Christmas spirit in the summertime: “We recorded this record kind of in two sections, but both times were in the summertime, which is always weird to be in the studio in July and June. So, we decorated the entire studio, we really did. We brought out lights, little, you know fake trees all around and decorated the place to kind of get in the Christmas spirit. It was definitely a new adventure to record it.” All three Christmas albums will be out next month.

Luke Bryan fans, here’s your road trip alert: you need to be in Nashville on October 17th, when Luke headlines the 5th Annual Capitol Street Party. Streets are closed off on Lower Broadway, and Luke’s excited to be part of the fun. Oh, and it’s free, too!